WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — The Wausau City Council held a Committee of the Whole meeting on Wednesday to discuss three different versions of a proposed environmental justice resolution.
The 90-minute conversation centered around what environmental justice means for the city, and what can be done to achieve it. It started with a carbon copy of a proposal from Evanston, IL, and ended with Alders scrapping that and moving forward with a plan to splice versions two and three together.
Public input was taken as part of Wednesday’s meeting, including a statement from Greater Wausau Chamber President Dave Eckman against the proposal. A representative from Kolbe and Kolbe Millworks also spoke out against the proposal, saying many businesses and factories already have to navigate federal and state environmental regulations.
Many on the council were in favor of the plan including Tom Kilian, who brought the idea of an environmental justice resolution to the table, and Lou Larson who said issues like this were the reason he ran for Council to begin with. Lisa Rasmussen also spoke out in favor
Dawn Herbst expressed her displeasure with the proposal, calling it nothing but fluff.
Alders voted on some amendments to the proposal. The first included adding the word equity and changing some other languages. That passed 8-3. The second involved a proposal to require the city to continually update environmental justice data in the GIS system, which would be provided to city council members every two years. That passed 10-1.
Another amendment called for Mayor Katie Rosenberg to graft together portions of the second and third versions, written by her and Alder Lisa Rasmussen, then bring them to the council for further discussion at a future date. That passed 9-2.
A final vote to send the measure to the full council passed 10-1.
The matter will come back to the council for further discussion at a future meeting. The entire 90-minute discussion can be viewed on the city’s YouTube channel by clicking here.
Comments